“He literally bounced off the bonnet, stood up and walked into school. Astonishingly, he just had a graze on his elbow and was otherwise fine.

“When I went to see him, he was sitting on a chair in the school office. His eyes were red because he had been crying but he kept saying he was ok. I was crying and trying to understand what had happened. He was in shock but was apologising.

“The car was being driven by a lady, who was very upset. This was not her fault.”

Jack Sundin, who had a lucky escape after being hit by a car outside of Valley gardens middle school (Image: Newcastle Chronicle)

Jack was born prematurely at 32 weeks, weighing just 3lbs 4oz, and life has not been easy for him.

He was born with Tetralogy of Fallot – a hole in the heart and defective valves – and tracheo-oesophageal fistula, a rare defect where the bottom end of the food pipe is joined to the windpipe. Within days, he had to undergo a major operation to rectify his foodpipe abnormality.

When he was a toddler, he needed life-saving surgery at Newcastle’s Freeman Hospital to remove an extra half-vertebrae that was pushing his spine more than 70 degrees out of alignment, causing it to turn back on itself.

And he also had open heart surgery, when he went under the knife for more than 10 hours to reroute the defective circulation in his heart.

In addition, he was diagnosed with a serious lung condition.

In April this year, he had an operation to replace a valve in his heart.

Jack Sundin with his mum Lisa at home in Earsdon, Jack had a lucky escape after being hit by a car outside of Valley gardens middle school (Image: Newcastle Chronicle)

Lisa, who works for Purplebricks estate agents, said: “Jack has had so many surgeries and he has bravely dealt with it all.

“When I was told about the car accident, I couldn’t believe it. I was really worried and upset. I was shaking. I remember thinking ‘he’s been through so much to get to the age of 10 - only to be hit by a car.